


The Pink and Spinel Quandary

by orphan_account



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Abandonment, Character Study, Essays, Gen, Homeworld Hierarchy (Steven Universe), Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Spoilers, Steven Universe: The Movie, pearl and blue diamond are also referenced
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:22:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26377225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Pink Diamond rightfully gets a lot of flack for various reasons, especially since actual appearances by her are so rare. One of the major issues is the Spinel situation. Herein is an essay explaining Pink's mindset and why she acted the way she did. The author does not condone her actions, but did feel a need to write this.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	The Pink and Spinel Quandary

**Author's Note:**

> I am going to be orphaning this work because I don't want to deal with the inevitable fallout from it. Take everything in it as you will.   
> If you are the person who inspired me to write this or any person who relates to Spinel, please know I am not trying to dismiss your trauma. Your trauma is valid. If this essay will bother you, and it is plastered in warnings, please heed them and stay away. You deserve better than to intentionally trigger yourself. Take care, everyone.

Approximately 6,000 years ago, Rose Quartz, who will henceforth be referred to as Pink Diamond or “Pink”, abandons her Spinel, a person designed to act as a playtoy, in a mysterious garden. This hit many Steven Universe fans with the feels due to Spinel’s relatability to them, and it should be clarified now that that is valid. Hating or disliking Pink Diamond due to her behavior in this regard is valid, projecting onto and relating to Spinel due to similar trauma is valid. Pink’s actions towards Spinel inflicted trauma upon her and were morally wrong, and should not be painted in a good or acceptable light. However, Pink’s behavior did not happen in a vacuum, and herein her motivations and possible explanations will be elaborated on. The author would like to repeat that they do not support Pink’s behavior, but they are providing explanation, and that people who utterly despise Pink (for valid reasons!) and/or have trauma related to abandonment may wish to avoid reading further. Additionally, behaviors surrounding characters besides Spinel are not going to be explored at this time unless they relate directly to Spinel. Without further ado, let’s get into it.

The first issue that should be addressed here is why exactly Pink left Spinel in the first place. Why didn’t she simply bring Spinel to Earth? The answer is bitter- but not hard to explain. Spinel was incredibly childish and clingy, and to be frank, annoying. During the scene before “Drift Away”, when Pink receives her communication, Spinel won’t leave her alone for even that amount of time. During “Drift Away”, when Pink leaves, it can be inferred that this is the first time since she was given Spinel, as shown by Spinel’s tugging her back into the garden. According to Pink’s wiki page, there are about 250 years between Pink being given Spinel and being given Earth to colonize, so Pink had spent 250 years with Spinel, and as far as is seen, no one else. Spinel is the equivalent of a very young child who does not grow up at all prior to becoming traumatized. While she may have been fun to play with for a shorter period of time, it is reasonable to assume that Pink was emotionally exhausted after being essentially trapped in the garden and only able to play with Spinel for such a long period of time. Spinel was likely incapable of understanding deeper emotions, so Pink could not have had a complex relationship with her- she had to continually play games with her or deal with incessant pressure to do so. This sort of relationship would not have worked on Earth even if Pink had wanted to continue it, because Pink had become responsible for the colony. Catering to a child who wants to play with her 24/7 would have been difficult if not impossible while also dealing with that level of responsibility. 

Considering their relationship, Pink also had very few options. As established, bringing Spinel to Earth was not a desirable option. That leaves her with: abandoning her in another location or bubbling her. Abandoning Spinel in another location is only slightly better- yes, she would have potentially had more company, but it had the same issues as the decision Pink did make- Spinel was so clingy that Pink could not direct her attention to other matters while Spinel was present, much less get Spinel to leave her alone. It would have been better than what Pink did do, but not by much. Pink could also have theoretically bubbled her- but with what? Pink does not actually possess a weapon. She would have had to return and attack Spinel- a difficult task innate of itself, as evidenced by Spinel’s combat abilities and durability shown in the movie- in order to bubble her, and beyond the difficulty and callousness such a task would entail, it would have been unlikely impossible for reasons that will be discussed later. 

Okay, so Pink left Spinel because she found her annoying and didn’t have good options otherwise. So why didn’t she come back? Surely she must’ve known that leaving her there would be emotionally damaging! Well, as it turns out, not necessarily. In “Greg the Babysitter”, Rose expresses that she hadn’t understood the idea that people could change before she encountered Earth. She had only encountered people-as-machines, and Spinel, who was designed to be her toy, was not the one to convince her otherwise; it is entirely possible that her motives were to create a little distance and to stop being continually annoyed, and that since she had never encountered a changing being, it didn’t occur to her that this would change Spinel. Secondly, Pink herself had been repeatedly abandoned. In “Change Your Mind”, the opening scene involves Steven having a nightmare about Pink’s life. In it, Blue Diamond locks Pink in a tower for an unspecified amount of time because she wanted to save worms from Kyanite and they infested the palace. Afterwards, Blue and Steven discuss the negative effects that directed related to her treatment at the hands of the higher ranked diamonds, that it may have twisted her sense of right and wrong, and that “maybe Pink thought you guys were right to lock her in here when she messed stuff up” (S5E29). In short, Pink was repeating a learned behavior and lacked the capacity to know her behavior was harmful in the first place. 

Pink’s naivety brings up another point; she may not have realized that Spinel would genuinely stay in that location forever. Spinel was a playful gem, and Pink may have assumed that this would eventually lead her to escape via the Warp Pad on her own. Yes, she had asked Spinel to stay in the garden, but gems can disobey their Diamonds (excepting White’s total mind control) - The Lapis Lazulis disobey Steven (“Why so Blue?”), Peridot disobeys Yellow Diamond (“Message Received”), hell, the entire Gem Rebellion was a thing. The only Gem who does not seem able to disobey their Diamond is Pearl in “A Single Pale Rose” when Pink orders her to keep the false shattering a secret. The difference there is that the false shattering was incredibly traumatic for Pearl- she compartmentalized it even further than her memories of losing Pink or the war, and she did not shapeshift until much after when she began to process the trauma. Therefore, considering that other gems can disobey their Diamonds, Pearl was likely unable to speak of the events that transpired between her and Pink not due to Pink’s request but as a result of the experience’s trauma and her simple loyalty to Pink. Back to the topic at hand- as the message system was still working, it’s interesting that Spinel never received another message at all (the line “finally something” in “Drift Away” implies that there had been no messages since Pink left), and especially that she doesn’t receive word about the Gem War starting or at the very least Pink’s supposed death- both events that Pink may have assumed Spinel would receive word about and prompt her to take action.

Now, with all that in mind, according to Pink’s wiki entry, she was on Earth for approximately 250 years before starting the Gem War, which lasted approximately 500 years. This is the timeframe in which Pink is truly guilty of abandoning Spinel. However, again, the point is to explore Pink’s motivations. So. To start, it is unknown how much Pink could travel. She may have been mandated to stay in her colony, especially as she supposedly lost control of it. However, assuming Pink had relatively unrestricted travel, the early part of the first 250 years would theoretically have been the best time to retrieve Spinel, as she would not have cemented her appearance as Rose Quartz or started a conflict that the artless Spinel could not have tolerated. However, this is the timeframe in which Pink was in the worst mindframe to do so. She could still recall how she had felt when interacting with Spinel, and hadn’t truly had time to stop internalising everything she’d learned at the hands of the Diamonds for thousands of years or to truly learn about the concepts that people changed over time. Afterwards, during the Rebellion (Gem War), Pink had to be Pink and Rose at the same time- she likely lacked the time it would have taken to either kidnap and re-abandon Spinel in a new location, confusing and distressing Spinel further, or assaulting Spinel in order to poof her and keep her bubbled forever. After Pink’s supposed shattering, the Warp Pads to areas outside of Earth are destroyed, and Pink loses all access to Spinel- she could do nothing about Spinel’s remaining 5,000 years of isolation.

Now, the author would like to repeat that regardless of intentions and reasons, Pink is still guilty of having abandoned Spinel. Her dislike of Spinel, her lack of options, her trauma, and her naivety are explanations, not excuses, for her behavior. Pink is still responsible, and people who hold her to that, especially due to their own abandonment-based trauma(s), are still correct and entirely valid in their feelings. A viewer of the show should be horrified at Spinel’s fate and begin to immediately make vows to never abandon a friend in the way Spinel was abandoned, but every story does have two sides, and this is Pink’s. Her redemption arc was told in reverse. Learn from it, and be better than she was. 

Sources (for reference):

Change Your Mind (episode)/Transcript. (n.d.). Retrieved September 09, 2020, from https://steven-universe.fandom.com/wiki/Change_Your_Mind_(episode)/Transcript  
Gem Weapons. (n.d.). Retrieved September 09, 2020, from https://steven-universe.fandom.com/wiki/Gem_Weapons  
Gem Weapons. (n.d.). Retrieved September 09, 2020, from https://steven-universe.fandom.com/wiki/Gem_Weapons  
Greg the Babysitter/Transcript. (n.d.). Retrieved September 09, 2020, from https://steven-universe.fandom.com/wiki/Greg_the_Babysitter/Transcript  
Jsinrich2002. (2019, September 14). Steven Universe: The Movie/Transcript. Retrieved September 09, 2020, from https://steven-universe.fandom.com/wiki/Steven_Universe:_The_Movie/Transcript  
Lapis Lazuli (Mean Lapis). (n.d.). Retrieved September 09, 2020, from https://steven-universe.fandom.com/wiki/Lapis_Lazuli_(Mean_Lapis)  
Message Received/Transcript. (n.d.). Retrieved September 09, 2020, from https://steven-universe.fandom.com/wiki/Message_Received/Transcript  
Pink Diamond. (n.d.). Retrieved September 09, 2020, from https://steven-universe.fandom.com/wiki/Pink_Diamond  
A Single Pale Rose/Transcript. (n.d.). Retrieved September 09, 2020, from https://steven-universe.fandom.com/wiki/A_Single_Pale_Rose/Transcript


End file.
